A Hellish Situation
by leodranz
Summary: When Maka gets talked into a 'demon' summoning for the sake of finding out a crush, what she didn't expect was an actual demon. Now she's stuck with a bad tempered demon that has no way home for a whole year. How is she going to hide this from her dad?
1. Chapter 1

She hadn't wanted to do this in the first place and now she wished she'd stayed home and read a book rather than go to Patti's slumber party. But of course the Thompson sisters had coerced her into having a sleep over to celebrate their last week of freedom before summer ended and they were sent back to school. Personally Maka didn't mind it so much, she was good at school. It was stuff like this that she wasn't the best at, it was always loud and they wanted to know who she found cute or what kind of guys she would date if she ever decided she liked one. Maka had the problem of loving her books more than noticing boys, much to Liz's constant dismay.

Liz currently was thinking that Maka was sheltered and just needed to go for it with someone, which often lead to her inviting Maka out and somehow not showing up but sending her 'friend' (aka a boy) to go with her. Many an awkward lunch had been taken due to Liz's 'helpfulness'. Luckily Tsubaki's love life had managed to deter the attention away from her recently when she'd begun to spend more and more time in the company of a loudmouth boy that her family knew. It was the center of the current girl talk, and gave Maka a slight reprieve to scribble on a notebook; it wasn't very good but it was at least a book. Patti had confiscated all of hers as soon as she'd walked through the door and hidden them who knew where.

The four girls were in a circle of sleeping bags, pillows, and the ever so important junk food that was a must have at social gatherings; especially the chocolate, there was no party without the heavenly treat. Patti was hanging upside down from her bed with her short hair pulled into stunted pigtails, Liz on the other hand had one ponytail pulled to the side draping over her shoulder and was sprawled out painting her nails a bright pink to go with the new dress she'd gotten for the first day of school. "Really Tsubaki I don't see how you spend so much time with him and haven't managed to at least get a kiss. Patti don't you think she should have at least gotten Black Star to kiss her by now?" The sisters were evil about tag teaming their victims to get information out of them; it was brutal to watch sometimes.

Giggling Patti rolled over onto her stomach and nodded, her smile wide and mischievous as she pulled at the end of one of Tsubaki's stray hairs from her bun. "Yeah! It's been two months and all you do is spend time together, it's weird! But he's lots of fun at least." She laughed as Tsubaki's face turned a bright red, her dark eyes full of wariness at their scrutiny. Patti had somehow gotten to meet this Black Star and the two had cleared out a buffet; much to the constant embarrassment of Tsubaki; as far as Maka knew the three were still banned. "Say sis, if they did kiss do you think that it would be hard since their different heights?" Her childlike features were pulled into thoughtfulness, as if the picture was perplexing, but most likely it was just a ploy to get Tsubaki to confess to any thoughts about having romantic thoughts about the boy.

"Patti that's not nice to say, I'm sure Tsubaki would love Black Star to kiss her even if he is short." Liz's eyes twinkled with a sly grin. Yep, the two were on a roll. Maka munched on a chip shifting her weight so she could readjust to watch them better, it was like a tennis match but with sharks.

Cringing Tsubaki looked over at Maka pleading, they needed a distraction or at least she did. "Can we not talk about this right now? Our families just spend a lot of time together and that's all." Liz and Patti looked at her as though they were going to pounce and slowly moved closer. As much as Maka didn't want to shift the focus onto herself, she couldn't let poor Tsubaki be eaten alive. There was only one way to divert the imminent attack now. Sighing before throwing a pillow to distract Patti, Maka braced herself since once the pillow struck it would be war, the blonde squealed before jumping into battle position and retaliating. Patti had a mean swing.

Soon all the girls were squealing and hurling fluffed objects at each other, their junk food the only safe zone since you didn't mess with chocolate.

Sometime in the fray Liz got hit and smeared her nails, Tsubaki's bun was knocked loose, and Maka got a mouthful of feathers. No one beat Patti, the girl was an evil devil ninja. "I can't believe you two ruined my nails! They were perfect!" Liz moaned before sighing and helping fix Tsubaki's hair into a well groomed braid that Maka could never have managed. Maka smirked before flopping back onto her sleeping bag, she gave a huff that the feathers puffed out of her mouth.

"You were getting boring, we needed a change of pace." Maka giggled, she was currently focused on swiping all of the M&M's out of the trail mix, only Tsubaki seemed to have noticed but she wasn't saying anything. "We've read all these magazines at least six times, I think I now know how to mix my summer wardrobe and kiss a man." They all laughed and Maka shrugged before she popped a few M&M's into her mouth and delighted in the sweetness.

"Oh?" The poke in her ribs made her squirm and glare at Patti who had a triumphant smirk in place, her pigtails were still perfectly in place. "How about we do a demon summoning huh? It can answer all of our questions and maybe do a hex to get Maka a real boyfriend instead of a book!" There was a challenge here, Maka could tell, and it wasn't really in her to back down.

Pouting Maka stared up at her not really caring to move from her very comfy spot. "Like you could even figure out how." It was something she really have not have said, she should have backed out right then and there. However that isn't what happened.

After some shady internet searches and a scavenger hunt around the house for the 'common' items that were somehow easy for the 'demon summoning made easy' that Patti and Liz had somehow scrounged up, they had also called the resident 'witch' Kim Dahl who was more than happy to agree provided they gave her a handsome reward; it was almost midnight but everything was set up. Kim was setting everything up while Liz was having some doubts about if it was a good idea, after all the horror movies with these things never ended well. Where as Patti was humming to herself enjoying the idea of freaking out her sister just for the glee.

On the supernatural the two were as different as night and day. "And you're sure this is going to be safe?" Liz asked for the millionth time.

Giving an annoyed huff Kim glared at her. "Yes, everything is perfect, now we just need a sacrifice. Preferably virgin blood." Her eyes turned on to Maka and she glowered back at the witch, it was just teasing but Maka was a bit hard headed when it came to being challenged, it was a fatal flaw unfortunately.

"I'll do it no problem! I'm not scared at all." She held out her finger in defiance and Kim chuckled with sadistic amusement.

"Not yet, we have a few things to do first." First the lights, lighting candles and making sure that every other light was off, Kim seemed very adept at handling everything, eerily nimble in the shadow. And so the setup went, with a strange symbol and some candles, with some crushed up powder and chanting; they sat down in a circle and Kim held out her hand for Maka's finger. So Maka did it, she let them prick her and the blood drop into the bowl. And then it happened.

Smoke swirled from the candles and the blood bubbled up from the cup, flames grew brighter till Maka's eyes watered and she thought she was going to go blind, a loud yawn crackled through the air somehow drowning out the screams of terror. What on earth was happening? This was supposed to be a joke! Some lame sleep over fun like a trust fall. Instead the lamp flickered on and there was a rumble, Liz almost in tears and Tsubaki was paler than a ghost, her black hair blending in with the shadows, and Kim sat in a speechless gape. "What the hell was that?" Maka whispered.

A throaty chuckle made her jump and turn to look at the bed where a white haired boy sat; that would have been freaky enough if not for the small red horns on his head that happened to match his crimson eyes, along with shark-like pointed teeth. Behind him large wings were folded, they didn't look like skin, more metallic of red and black that reflected the candle light. Luckily Maka didn't see a tail, but with the dim lighting it was hard to tell. "Well hell is semi close I suppose, but to the next matter of business may I ask why you summoned me?" His voice wasn't terrifying to match his appearance, however it wasn't super comfortable either, more raw and real than she was used to.

"DEMON!" Liz shrieked and the demon threw his hands over his ears and snarled. "PATTI DON'T WORRY YOUR BIG SISTER IS HERE!" However it seemed as though Liz was clinging to Patti in terror more than protectively, her arms and legs thrown over her younger sibling haphazardly like a monkey struggling to stay off the ground.

The demon growled through his teeth and apparently had had enough of the shrieks as he yelled back. "COULD THE BIG SISTER STOP TRYING TO MAKE MY EARS BLEED?!" It was enough that Liz fell into shock, or maybe it was a coma, she just kinda stared blankly at the ceiling in terror, tears still half in her eyes. Giving a snort he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at all of them as if this was the most dreadful thing that he'd been subjected to. Which being a demon seemed highly unlikely. He looked to be a teen and despite the initial horror at seeing a demon Maka was abashed to notice that he was actually really good looking. "Now about this summoning me while I was sleeping business. What the fuck?! Ever heard of daytime ladies?" That seemed to shake a bit of the shock off of everyone and Kim was finally able to close her mouth.

"Um, Mr. Demon..." Tsubaki asked shyly and he turned to look at her with those dark eyes, Maka noticed that they were a few different shades of red even in the lamplight. A snowy brow raised in expectation as he waited for her, it was strangely polite all things considered. "We really didn't know that it was a serious thing, it was just supposed to be a joke."

At that he slapped his hands to his face and groaned. "You can't be serious. I got pulled out of my comfortable bed for you to play a 'joke'?! And for your information Demon is not a name, it's a breed, my name happens to be Soul Eater." There was a moment of silence, maybe of fear that this demon, this Soul Eater would snap and slaughter them all; and then Patti started laughing and that pin that had held them on edge was gone.

Soul Eater looked at Patti as if he was debating her sanity as she broke out into hysterics, only instead of quelling the giggling it seemed to spread, first to Maka, then Kim, and Tsubaki. Liz, unfortunately, was still too stunned to do much laughing. "Soul Eater?! For real? Is that the best you can do Mr. Demon? Who named you?" Patti was laughing so hard that tears fell and she clutched her sides as she rolled on the pillows. Luckily she was avoiding the lit candles.

Glaring, Soul Eater did not seem to appreciate their opinion of his name, his hand trailing through his messy hair and avoiding the horns. "So, Soul Eater, we summoned you as a joke but it seems that since it worked you owe us a favor. Right?" Kim said, though her lips were still fighting a smile as if she was trying to suppress the laughter; Maka had no doubt that if Kim got a wish there would be cash involved somehow. The demon folded his legs so that he was sitting Indian style on Patti's very bright comforter, arms mimicking them; Maka could only describe his face as expectant, but there was more to it, it was almost amused.

"You've got a few stipulations but generally yes, I do grant one favor if someone manages to drag me out of bed. It's a rule that I don't particularly like." Even talking about it he was annoyed, a twitch in his eye as he told them about it.

"I want money!" Kim nearly lept into the circle, her eyes full of greedy glee.

"Done." He snapped his fingers and grinned.

"That's not fair!" Patti growled, her eyes looking around for the money. "We all summoned him so we should all get one!"

Kim shrugged but looked nervous as she glanced around for that cash. "You called me for my help and I'll consider this my fee." It didn't appease Patti and the two began to argue, mostly about spending wishes and how it wasn't unfair.

Maka was more concerned with the loopholes that Soul Eater would most likely use since she'd never read a book where a demon hadn't played their summoner. "What's the catch?" Maka asked, it was enough to surprise him, his head swiveling to stare directly into her eyes. It was almost unnerving. What made it worse was that the room lights switched on leaving them all in full light, he was in black pants but was still shirtless, which was somewhat distracting from her question if she was being honest.

"Well that's not cool." However when he spoke there was a grin. "The 'catch' is that she never said, when, where, or even how much." But as he spoke a stack of hundreds fell at Kim's feet, Maka wasn't sure if he was feeling generous or if he was just amused that someone had called him on the game. She imagined that was a new things for demons. Kim's eyes were wide but seeing the group she only took half, which even still was a generous portion of cash for everyone.

It took a few minutes but everyone divided it up and Maka was amazed to have one thousand dollars in hundreds, it was very strange but almost a giddy feeling. She could afford so many books for her collection! The mini library would be wonderful! True, she'd need a few more bookshelves and she'd probably have to space out the purchases so she wouldn't make her dad suspicious.

"What are you still doing here?" That snapped her out of her daydream and she saw that Soul Eater was sprawled out on his side with a bored look on his face and a bit of drool dropping from his bottom lip. His head was propped up on his hand and when Kim asked the question his eyes lit up with life.

The yawn that had signaled his arrival was now repeated, only this time the room didn't freak out and the candles remained in a slight flicker. Liz was huddled to a pillow though, her knuckles white, she hadn't really been able to say much other than about ghosts and hating the supernatural. Luckily Tsubaki seemed to be doing her best to comfort her; she was very surprised to note that Tsubaki was not freaking out. "Did you even read about the summoning you were doing?" He gave a dull stare at all of them.

Frowning Maka tried to remember which article they'd been using, there had been a few promising ones but she thought they'd settled on the one where the demon was supposed to grant favors to each summoner. The gifts lasted a year, with nothing bad to happen such as being robbed if you wished for money. (How lucky for them.) "Your gifts last a year, right?"

Soul Eater sighed, his free hand doing a face palm. Maka hadn't known that demons knew that one, or maybe it was a universal gesture. "People really need to learn to read things when it comes to universal law. No angel, that is not what the fine print says. When you do that spell, you can get a different variety of demons from a certain level on the chain, as it happens I was the oh so lucky one this time." There was definite sarcasm at the last part. "I am from the protective level, meaning yes, I do have to grant one favor to the summoner. But I am bound on a contract to the sacrifice for one year as a protector." At that everyone turned to look at her and Maka looked at the small red dot on her finger from where she'd let them goad her into letting herself be the sacrifice.

She'd been bound to a demon, she'd messed up.


	2. Chapter 2

When her brain started working again Maka sputtered some incoherent string of words, mostly meaning 'what the hell?! I can not have a demon following me around for a year! I did not agree to this!' or at least something along those lines. Soul Eater just watched her with half lidded eyes, not moving from his seemingly comfortable perch on the bed. "It's your own fault, you should learn to read spell books better." He shrugged, the movement made his wings cross and there was a grating metal sound, it was eerie. "Not to mention letting anyone use your blood is a horrible idea really."

"We didn't use a spell book!" Maka growled back at him, the shock/disbelief at being bound to a demon was turning into full blown anger. "It was just some stupid internet search for a laugh! It wasn't supposed to work!" It wasn't till she was standing over the bed with her fists clenched that she'd realized she'd moved, that her cheeks were red and her voice was louder than she meant to.

This got his attention, if only for his eyes narrowed and she watched flames dance in them. Flipping so that he was sitting up he leaned forward, his sharp teeth very prominent in his growl. "You found a spell you didn't know how to use and summoned me on accident?! Are you stupid?" The wings on his back stretched out, the strange material taking up easily half of the room. "What kind of moron summons a demon for a laugh? Do you have any idea about the balances of power and how you could die if you slip up even once?" Gnashing his teeth together he was shaking, she wondered if he wanted to kill her? A blood lust? Something inside her tightened and she refused to back down from this rather bad tempered boy.

Sliding between them Tsubaki held her hands up in a placating gesture. "Now, now, Mr. Soul Eater it really wasn't Maka's fault. We were just trying to have a bit of fun. Everything will turn out all right, we'll just look up a reversal spell and send you right on your way home." Tsubaki looked at Patti and Kim for backup, her friends nodded as if they knew exactly what they were doing; but Maka knew it was just to buy them some time to see if they could actually accomplish sending this demon back to wherever it was he was from. Maka hoped they could and that he would take a serious nap to get in a better mood.

His wings pulled back towards his body, the athletic build of his shoulders supporting them easily, the fire in his eyes eased. Maka tried not to look at the black pants that were slowly starting to sink lower on his hips from all the movement; nope, she didn't note that he was well filled out at all. Or even that his lips were fuller than one would have thought.

Flopping back onto the bed he closed his eyes, his mouth hanging open as he left them to try to find a way to send him back. "Maka, come on!" Patti called, she was leading a shaking Liz out to the hall, their mother wasn't in town for a few weeks so the girls had the house to themselves. They were used to it and Liz often played 'mom' more than big sister when it came to a lot of things.

"What are we going to do?" Kim whispered, huddled in the tight hall they all looked at each other with a bit of worry. It wasn't likely they could find a reversal spell, that wasn't how summonings tended to work. Or at least that had been one of the warnings when they'd researched the spell; Kim had assured them that it would be fine. Maka should have known better than to let anyone goad her into doing such a stupid thing.

Rubbing her temples Maka tried to think, "Okay, Kim you know more about this stuff so you and Liz can work on seeing about a reversal for that spell. Patti, you and Tsubaki can work on food since it doesn't look like any of us are going to sleep any time soon." Plus it would give them a way to divert the demon's attention should he try to eat them.

"What about you Maka?" Tsubaki asked, her dark eyes shining with concern.

Squaring her shoulders she looked at all of them. "Someone has to get information and since he's supposed to protect me for a year I'll see what I can get him to tell us. If I get anything good I'll text it to your email Liz so keep it open on a separate tab." She took a deep breath and nodded at them; it was time to see if they could send the beast back. "All right, lets get going."

Turning on her heel she faced the door and counted to five, it would be okay, they would find a way to make it okay. When she turned the knob and poked her head in Maka couldn't believe what she was seeing, it was baffling. Soul Eater had left the bed and was now fiddling with Liz's MP3 player, his long fingers poking at the buttons and turning the device in his hands as if it was the most unique thing he'd ever seen. "Need any help?" She asked before she could stop herself.

Jerking away in surprised he was abashed to see her looking at him, his cheeks were mottled red and it almost made her laugh. His wings had knocked over the side table and there were cuts into them now, Maka was sure that Liz was not going to be amused. "This contraption, it's noise confuses me." Pointing a very long finger he eyed it suspiciously.

Giggling Maka walked over to show him how to work the device and hook it up properly to the speakers so that it wouldn't be garbled. "It's to play music." Taking the device from his hands she leaned over to readjust the cord that had come loose which explained the static that was blending with the songs. His breath hit her neck and she was hyper aware that there was a demon behind her, there was no doubt that he could kill her before she could even scream. Scrolling through the playlist Maka decided to put on one of the lighter musical choices so as not to startle him. "You just re-hook this up and then tada!" He gasped in wonder, his eyes wide and his mouth open with a stunned sort of fascination as the melody filled the room.

"Cool." He breathed. Shaking his head out of a daze he frowned and moved back to the bed to sit down. Maka noted his posture was much more guarded and he did in fact have a tail. It was black and barbed, the skin slick and definitely not human; it looked like shark skin. "So you're a brave idiot. Not many would come into a room alone with a demon." A sly smirk crossed his features and she could tell he was goading her. He'd already admitted he was a 'protective' demon; whatever that meant.

Frowning Maka sat down on the small pallet of pillows they'd all set up earlier. "My name's Maka." She was tempted to hold her hand out for him to shake but considering the height difference of their positions it seemed to be a pointless endeavor. "So, you're name is Soul Eater?" It was still hard not to snicker at that but she figured it was best not to tempt his demon instincts.

Narrowing his eyes a bit Soul straightened up, she noticed his tail flick once before holding steady between his wings. Crossing his arms over his very noticeable bare chest he nodded, "That's the translation you would use. Otherwise it's a very long and gibberish sounding string of syllables that I really don't care to pronounce at the moment." He wouldn't meet her eyes for a second but she thought it was kind of adorable. "You and your friends should really learn to stay out of paranormal things that you don't understand." It was a quiet statement and it made Maka a little surprised, there was almost a melancholy note in his tone.

"Are you wanting to go back?" It seemed logical, after all even a demon had to have a home. Right?

Again he wouldn't look at her. His focus on the stereo instead, he seemed to greatly enjoy that classical music that had just begun to play. His shoulders drooped a bit and the scowl lessened on his face. "I don't know. There's not much to go back to." A slight shrug was all the elaboration he would give. Maka wanted to press further but the faraway look in his eyes hinted that it may not be in her best interest. Luckily to distract her was a small beep on her phone, she typed in her passcode and looked at the email alert button and text message that was flashing.

'Food is almost ready. Are you doing all right?' was the text from Tsubaki of course, the sweet girl was always so mothering that Maka was surprised the message hadn't come through sooner.

Flipping over to her email Maka ground her teeth in frustration. 'We are screwed.' was all that Kim had felt to send and Maka could only guess at what that meant.

To her surprise she looked up to see Soul somewhat hovering above her, his crimson gaze was now fully entranced by her phone. His feet weren't touching the ground and his arms were crossed, yet his wings were only half outstretched and hadn't moved. How was he levitating? "Ah!" She squeaked and moved back a bit. At that an evil grin hovered at his lips before vanishing into a stoic response. "Do you make any noise?!" She snapped, to which he didn't respond. His feet slowly lowered and he touched the ground again, Maka noted he had no shoes on and luckily no talons.

A knock pulled her out of her own thoughts and she looked up to see Kim enter, to her complete lack of surprise Liz had opted to stay outside. Mimicking the demon she crossed her arms and gave a huff of her pink hair, for some reason she loved the color despite her hard personality. "We may have a problem." It was clear by the look on her face that she was far from happy about this, Maka felt dread start to build up in her stomach. The demon didn't even blink. "It seems there is someone who controls all the contracts between demons their dealings in the mortal plain. We could attempt to summon him but I don't know what that would do and we'd need another sacrifice."

"Because summoning one demon you don't know how to get rid of isn't enough." He retorted before sighing. Flopping on the bed he glared up at the ceiling. "Do whatever you want." Waving his hand flippantly he closed his eyes and proceeded to ignore them. Well gee this was going to be fun.

Maka stood up and moved to the hall with Kim. Sighing she sunk against the wall and put a hand to her head to massage her temples, there was a migraine building up in her skull. "I'm not letting you use me again." At this point she could barely think past one demon being bound to her, much less somehow two. "What did you find." It wasn't so much a question as a demand, it was her fault that she was in this mess anyway.

Glaring at her in a clear distaste Kim sighed. "The broker is called the Reaper. It takes a lot to summon him and even then there's no guarantee that he'll be in the mood to help. Also there has to be a perfect symmetry to the entire spell meaning not one sacrifice...it takes two." Well that was lovely. But the look on Kim's face let Maka know that there was more bad news. "It also has to be at 8 exactly. And the sacrifices have to be sisters. Like I said this ritual is far more complex than the one that got Soul here and I'm not sure I can pull it off." Groaning Maka didn't know what to do, on one hand she wanted to be free of this demon; but on the other she had no wish to make things worse.

"That's the only way?" It was a stupid question, obviously there weren't a whole lot of options in the 'dealing with demons dilemma.' What was she going to do? The girls were at a loss and even Tsubaki's delectable cooking couldn't seem to bring up their spirits. Poor Liz was so out of it she ran into two walls and screamed at the top of her lungs. Maybe they should have wished she was a mute for a bit or less afraid of the paranormal.

"Well it looks like he isn't going anywhere huh sis?" Patti said between bites as she stuffed her face full of cookies and brownies. How Tsubaki had managed to make so much food in such a short time with that bottomless pit around no one knew. But even her magical cooking skills couldn't help them out of this situation.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Sorry for taking so long uploading chapters 2 and 3. If they are a bit rough I do apologize, it's been a strange season for me lately. Hopefully you still enjoy and I'll try to update more often. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated.**_

Soul watched the ceiling enjoying the new found sound of the strange device that Maka had shown him, in fact he was almost relaxed. But he wouldn't admit to that, a demon was not supposed to be comfortable being trapped in the human world for at least a year. Or so it would seem. He was well aware that it was nearly impossible to summon the Reaper and even if they tried there was no guarantee that it would work. Some things were best left in the Underworld if he had any thought about it.

Despite the group of girls being in the halls he could hear them perfectly, knew the sound of their breathing and heartbeats. The frantic one was probably the easiest to pick out simply for the fact she hadn't stopped hyperventilating since he'd been summoned.

"We should have gotten more money from him for this." The pink haired one griped, Soul could only grin at the sentiment. He'd been nice simply for the fact that the girl Maka had called him on the subtle game that the demons liked to play with mortals. However she hadn't fully gotten all of the information out of him; there were some rules he didn't feel inclined to share. It was part of the game.

A heavy sigh from Maka had his ears twitch, since they were bonded he was hyper aware of her. "I don't think summoning the broker is a good idea. Besides I don't think Liz can handle another demon running around her house." At the muffled shriek Soul would guess that Liz was in agreement. He smirked before rubbing his neck.

Human homes were far less durable than he'd imagined, he'd already left slice marks in the wall and ripped the comforter on the bed. Somehow he doubted that these human girls would be thrilled about that. "Well if he does have to stay, doesn't that mean people will find out? And then they'll do freaky experiments on him right?" It was the younger blonde that was speaking, he forgot which one she was, though he thought it may have been Maddie...Tabby...Patti...something like that.

"Don't be silly, we couldn't let that happen to him."

"For enough money..." Sighing Soul tuned them out to let them debate amongst themselves, he found that normally humans were a tad bit annoying over long periods of time. So instead he thought about the rumors he'd heard about the mortal world, it had been a very long time since he'd spoken to any of the others about visiting.

Demon summonings weren't exactly as common as they used to be, but apparently sacred texts were common knowledge to anyone now days. The spell that summoned him was supposed to be one of the most sacred and hard to find texts, only three books had it in their pages. How had this happened? Soul supposed that when he made it back he'd have to talk to the Reaper about it, clearly one of his bargains had gone terribly wrong. Or maybe he was slacking, he was fairly old.

"Mr. Soul Eater?" The sweet one poked her head in the room, her black hair vibrant against the pale skin of her face. Raising a brow he sat up, his arms flopped in his lap, he felt particularly sluggish compared to normal. "Would you like some food?" Holding up a tray full of foreign and colorful things she waved it at him as if it was appetizing. Sniffing the air he wondered what strange thing this could be, he knew that the females had been talking about food but none of this was familiar. In fact it looked fake.

But she offered it to him and set it in front of him on the bed. Cocking his head to the side he peered at it with a profound curiosity. His heightened senses could pick up that it was indeed an edible dish, however he wasn't so sure his stomach would agree with it. Yet he picked up a flaky thin thing, he was surprised when it snapped between his fingers and he was left with scattered fragments gong everywhere. "What is this thing?" Why would anyone eat something they couldn't grab? How did he even eat these things? Maybe like a hellhound?

Giggling the girl sat beside the bed and picked up one of the strange foods up gently, it crunched when she bit it but she seemed to enjoy it. "It's a chip silly. A thinly sliced potato that's been fried." Perhaps to her this explanation meant something but to Soul it was gibberish. He was finding that his sharp teeth did not agree with these 'chips' nor were they very filling.

Stomach growling he glared down at the plate with a menace. This offering was obviously better suited for someone more human like. "Do you have anything...less fragile?" The other contents of the plate were baffling to him as well but they looked to have a bit more substance he supposed.

"He'd probably like your chicken Tsubaki." Maka came in munching on a long string of what could best be described as multicolored rocks. Her green eyes stared at him with questions, he could see the spark of intelligence (despite letting her friends agree to use her as a demon sacrifice) "Assuming of course that he has taste-buds." It was a barb, but for some reason it only made him smile wider at her, flashing his teeth in what most people would find scary.

The girl cut up the strange thing, the white meat slicing with the orange sauce drizzling. It smelled good, whatever this 'chicken' was. Though to be honest it looked as if it was far undercooked for his tastes. He picked up a chunk of it between his fingers and hesitantly plopped it on his tongue, the sweet orange glaze was pleasing. Maka smiled and walked closer to him, her green eyes shining with approval.

Until his stomach rebelled and he upchucked all over her. Acids burned his throat and he felt his body convulse as he was forced to release everything he had in his stomach. What fresh hell was this?

Once the seizing was over he looked up to see Maka's face filled with objective horror, his stomach contents clung to her pants and fuzzy footwear. "You ruined my pajamas!" She shrieked and quicker than he'd be able to recount she swiped a book from the floor and slammed it into the back of his cranium.

He swore that the universe was spinning, stars floating across his vision as he realized that he was now on the floor and the strange orange goo was now caked in his hair and sliding down his face. It was warm and smelled so sweet that he didn't know if it was the smell or the taste that he couldn't have in his system. "Maka I think you over did it." Groaning he held his head and let the world slowly process till it was in focus again.

"Are you insane?! You tried to poison me!" It was a weak growl but it was the best he could manage from being on his head on the floor. His wings flared out and he forced himself to raise into the air, sitting on the subtle waves of sound that his wings could channel. Invisible bonds kept his hands forced down when all he really wanted to do was strangle the blonde for daring to try to kill him; it was one of the so called 'perks' of being in the protective class of demons. At the moment he really hated it.

Huffing the blonde stormed out with other girl following her. Snorting Soul didn't bother to follow, it was clear they expected him to stay in the room until they found a way to try to send him home. Sadly he knew that it was a long shot at best. Demon summonings were a very serious undertaking, the oaths binding. These stupid girls were lucky that a murderous creature hadn't been on that list of paranormal that answered certain spells.

Laying back against the air he waited, he was getting bored. "Well, well. Seems like you're getting yourself into trouble eh, Soul?" Grinding his sharp teeth he looked to see the ugly red face of Ogre. In a cheap black suit and with oversized hands and cranium; the little demon was something of a probation officer to his kind. Reporting to the Reaper on a regular basis.

"It's not any of your concern." Running a hand through his snowy locks he tried to keep his breathing even, not revealing any of the tension that he was feeling inwardly. "Though you should let your boss know that his so called 'security' is losing it's edge." Which was true enough, he could only guess that the Reaper had more important matters to focus on, but t could become a real problem f they let it slip through the cracks.

Chuckling the little demon scratched the dark part of his skin that looked like a mask almost, his little horns prominent. Standing at about two feet tall, one wouldn't think that such a tiny little thing would be such a major pain in the ass. "Swing, swing. You really should just learn to go with the rhythm of things, it would make my life so much easier for you to stop fighting everything." Clicking his tongue he sighed, meaty fingers straightened his tie. "I'll report t back but there are some things I need to update you on. The human world has changed so much from the books that we gave you to study." Soul tuned out as soon as the beast opened his mouth; he didn't read much so he hadn't cared at all when the little demon had shoved a pile of books at him telling him to study. How long ago had that been? Twenty? Forty years? Time wasn't as relevant to his kind.

"Soul!" Blinking dully, Soul looked at Ogre. If he was red of anger Soul couldn't tell. Though a sly grin made it's way to his lips at the thought. "I swear, at this rate you'll never adjust to society. Look, you need to keep that girl safe and do your duty as contracted by the contract you took for agreeing to the summoning."

"I didn't agree to shit! I was sitting in my room minding my own business then that stupid black hole opened and sucked me into this world!" True once he'd been yanked out of his home he'd realized where he was headed and had played it up a bit, after all, where was the fun in a boring entrance? It was much cooler to have a little fun.

Grimacing Ogre tapped his finger to his chin and sighed. "I'll see what I can find out. Until then do your best to stay out of trouble. Mortals are a jumpy lot when it comes to our kind." And then without warning he proceeded to melt into a puddle of black before it evaporated nearly instantly. Annoying little demon.

Soul swore that if he ever got a chance to make that little guy pay, he'd take a huge bite of that opportunity.

'Knock.' It was straightforward and to the point, it was Maka. Already he could tell that she wouldn't waste flowered pleasantries with him. Changed and smelling of mint and vanilla; she walked in, her hair was wet and hung loosely around her shoulders. For some reason it was a very delightful smell that made his gut tighten. Or maybe he was just hungry. "Did you come to hit me again?" After his little chat with Ogre he felt like he could go a round of two with a hellhound.

"Surly much? It's not my fault you decided to ruin my favorite pajamas." Fists on her hips she looked far more formidable than a hellhound for some reason. Which was saying quite a bit about the fire that burned in those soft green eyes. Scoffing he rolled to his side, he could see her evaluating how he stayed in the air. The poor girl was clearly a brain, she needed to loosen up a bit. "Kim doesn't think they can find a way to get you home without risking bringing another demon here." Shifting her weight he could tell that she was nervous, it was almost cute.

Soul wondered what he should do here. His natural inclination was to smart off to her, but he figured he'd take a bit of pity on her. In a sense he did sort of owe her, he hadn't meant to throw up his guts all over her. "You're wondering what I am going to do. Simple. I'm your protector, I give you my loyalty and make sure that you're safe. Nothing changes that."

Narrowing her eyes she glared at him. She didn't like the answer, yet he couldn't change his oath any more than he could change his race. "No offense but you don't exactly blend in and I won't have my studies affected by some demon following me around for a year. I have too much riding on this year." Groaning Soul straightened and let his feet touch the floor, his tail swished between his wings in obvious annoyance. It was a habit that he'd picked up from his brother unfortunately. He glanced around the room and picked up one of the flimsy, shiny books that the girls had left strewn out. Flipping through the pages he looked at what human males normally looked like, it didn't seem so different than how he looked now. Minus wings, tail, and horns.

Glancing to her he took a deep breath and concentrated, shape shifting wasn't his strongest point but he figured he could at least manage to get rid of the outward extremities. From her hiss of breath he would guess that it was working. When he finally opened his eyes he saw that her cheeks were red. Aside from feeling crammed in his skin it didn't feel too much different than normal, certainly he was able to move a bit more in the tiny room. "Better?"

Gulping she nodded, her hands next to her mouth as she looked him up and down. Certainly his shoulders felt a bit lighter and he didn't have to worry about cutting up anything. "Yeah. Um...why didn't you do that before?"

Soul frowned. "I don't like to. My powers increase for you." He wasn't going to specify on that, he didn't think it was a good idea to overwhelm her or to give her too much information on demon kind. Before she could fully process that he decided to keep her mind preoccupied. "So is this suitable?" Gesturing to himself he watched her face redden again.

"Yes. Um...wait. Uh." He gave her time to scrutinize, not minding that she took a bit of time. Honestly he wasn't even sure how long he could keep up this form, he hadn't done much shape shifting since he was a younger demon. But within him he could feel the blood of her pulsing in him, the extra strength is gave him when she was closer. Her blood was what tied him here, whether she knew it or not. "Your hair, teeth, and eyes may be a bit strange..." It took him a few seconds to register that she'd spoken.

Peering past her he saw himself in the reflective glass. Crimson eyes, white hair, and of course his dagger teeth. It was strange to see himself without his demon qualities, the way he looked so much smaller and far less lethal. "I look...tiny." Curling his lip he didn't like the way he seemed, how was he supposed to protect her if he didn't look somewhat threatening to give them a warning?

Giggling Maka shook her head. "That's not what I meant at all. I mean...you look different from humans is all. We don't really look...like you." He failed to see how. Already he hated how soft his hands looked.

"This is me looking like you."

"Well I'm sorry but you still really stand out." Soul shook his head at her words. What on earth was he supposed to do about that? It wasn't his fault his genetic makeup wasn't to her liking.

Huffing slightly he glared at her. "Well this is the best it's going to get."


	4. Chapter 4

As it turned out, 'the best it was going to get' was actually pretty awesome. Maka was having a hard time focusing on anything else. Much less the plan to sneak him into their school. "He's so lifelike!" Patti exclaimed, she was pulling on the demon's lips and poking his teeth with a certain wide eyed wonder that was her forte. For his part Soul looked far less than amused but tolerated it, aside from a few snide remarks and growling that he'd occasionally let loose. Patti nearly lost a hand though when she tried to put makeup on him, Maka was too busy cackling on the floor to really fear for her friend though. Only Patti would try to doll up a demon.

"He's not a doll Patti." Liz muttered, she was more comfortable with the 'new' Soul but it was clear Liz was not going near the demon if she didn't have to. Since Maka had met the girl, Liz did not go near anything she deemed 'spooky' 'creepy' or 'gross' which may have applied all three to summoning paranormal creature. "But that doesn't answer the question about how we're going to enroll him in school. We need parents for that. Documents. Plus it's a little late to just throw him in our class." That was a point. Maka knew all the documents they'd need and maybe it wouldn't be too hard to forge them. Her father had plenty of important documents lying around that she could use for reference or ideas.

Snarling Soul finally pried away from Patti and recoiled back to his perch on the bed, arms crossed he glared at them all. "Why do I need to go to class? I'm a demon. I'm here to protect you, not learn about human things." Everyone looked up at him and then turned back to Maka. It was clear she was the one to do the explaining.

"I am not missing school for you. And a demon in school just hanging around would freak everyone out." Peeking under her lashes at Soul she felt something inside her perk with interest; he was so dark and foreboding that Maka could hardly keep her attention on Liz. With a disapproving huff he glared at them but didn't comment back. Maybe he gave up? "Yeah I guess you're right. Everyone would know he wasn't from the area pretty quick." She looked over at Liz who gave her a 'duh' stare.

"Where Maka goes, I go." Soul finally muttered, there was no arguing with his tone clearly. Yawning he laid back on the bed, it seemed far more comfortable than before, his wings no longer slicing up everything. Liz's mom was going to freak if she ever realized the heavy cuts throughout her daughters' bedroom. It looked like an axe murderer had tried his hand at interior decorating.

Liz snickered, the first real laugh she'd given since the ritual. "Oh sweetie that is so not happening." His ears twitched and he waved his hand in dismissal. "Maka's daddy won't let anyone near his little angel." Mocking her in an obnoxious voice Liz pounced on her and grappled her into a bear hug. Flailing Maka yelped and tried to pry herself free.

In an instant she was amazed to find herself free and on the other side of the room, Soul was glaring at them and his eyes glowed in annoyance. His hands were up and Maka saw Liz suspended in mid air with a scream stuck in her throat. "Playing or not, no one hurts Maka." With a low growl he lowered them both gently.

Hyperventilating Liz clung to Patti, it was clear the two would need to work on understanding each other better. "I'm fine." Maka sighed, if he thought that was bad he should see her father when he got excited.

Crap. Maka had forgotten about her dad. Relenting, Soul's muscles loosened and she could see the tenseness leave his jaw. "It will be fine as long as I'm around." Soul yawned and in an instant he was asleep, his breathing light. He didn't look so scary when he was asleep, his muscles relaxed.

"I didn't know demons slept." Patti commented as she patted Liz on the head.

It was going to be a long night.

"This is so not going to work." Maka groaned, her heart hammering in her chest as she stood at her doorstep. Behind her she could feel the demon breathing and she wanted to cringe in horror as she waited for the dreaded moment when she'd have to actually speak to her father. As the head of security detail for the Mayor he could be overbearing to say the least, especially when it came to having boys around. Not that she needed his protection. Her father had been so paranoid that she had more than learned how to drop someone where they stood if they posed a threat; now if only her father would understand that and leave her alone. "Are you sure you can't transform into a puppy? Kitten? Maybe even a goldfish?" Peeking over her shoulder she saw him roll his eyes in exasperation.

After the initial transformation to as much of a human boy as possible, Soul had told her with quite a few vague details that he could not change his appearance any more than he had. Luckily it had been enough to put the other girls at a bit of ease compared to the horned figure he'd previously imposed. Liz had finally stopped shrieking and was able to be in the same room as everyone. It had proven to be a very long night in getting Liz to accept him and even longer to explain to Soul that her couldn't 'Jedi' everyone he thought was hurting Maka.

She had a life and she refused to let this demon ruin it.

Surprisingly Tsubaki was the one who'd thought of introducing him as a foreign exchange student. Because apparently he wouldn't tolerate being separated from her. "Look, I really don't think this is a good idea." Her dad would kill him...or he'd kill her dad. As much as she'd like to beat her father over the head most of the time, she didn't really want him eaten by a demon.

"Relax. I can hear your heartbeat so loud it's giving me a headache." Grousing he nudged her forward. Maka sighed and slid the key into the lock, this was it, she was going to witness a murder. Sneaking a glance behind her she did a millionth once over to see how normal he truly appeared to be. His white hair was gelled into a messy style, a shirt they'd gotten from Liz (apparently from a late night visitor in the past), and shoes of the same kind of nature. He looked like a regular teen boy, hopefully enough of a foreign boy that her father wouldn't dispute it too much.

With one last mournful sigh she stepped in, as usual the house was fairly empty, the sparse furniture due to her father's constant lack of being home. If he wasn't working or impending on her life he was often out with a harem of women that Maka could only catch glimpses of. It was more than enough for her.

He followed her quietly. At least he didn't comment on the few baby pictures of her, she swore it was amazing she didn't have radiation from how many her father had taken. All the ones that had included her mother were gone though, put away. Maka kept them safe in a picture memory book. She didn't like looking at them often. It just reminded her that her mother had left, fed up with her father and fled in the night...but she'd left Maka. "Papa's car is here so it shouldn't be long..."

No sooner were the world out of her mouth when she heard it, the rough stomps as he rushed to the door, a quiet whisper. Her heart sunk just a bit as she realized that his hair was mussed and there was a bit of red on his neck. "M-m-maka! My precious baby! You're home early!" His expression was wide and she knew that he was forcing himself to remain calm; this wasn't the first time she'd seen such a thing with him.

White hot rage curled in her belly and she instantly forgot that there was a demon following her. "Yeah I bet you didn't" It was hard to quell the scream she wanted to let out. His shifting from foot to foot, the way his eyes kept glancing between her and the door as if trapped."I'm home. I'm going to bed." Stomping off she shoved past him, not caring about the hurt look on his face or the way his expression fell.

"Maka, really..." He tried to touch her and she shrugged him off, she would not cry. She wouldn't give him any notice. "It's just a friend."

Whirling on him she couldn't help it, her fists came down hard against the wall and she wanted to break something. "I don't want to hear it." It came out as icy as she'd intended, ready to freeze him in the black hole of a heart. It was his fault that her mother had left. Forcing herself to turn she yanked open her door and gave him one last glare full of disgust."Tell her she can leave now." With that she slammed the door, loud enough so that her father's 'visitor' would know that they weren't welcome in this home.

A scream filled her lungs and she flung herself onto the bed before punching and yelling into her pillows. She hated him! She hated him! He knew that she despised when he did this! Spirit Albarn was the reason that her mother had left; taken a job on the other side of the world in a place too dangerous to take her daughter. So now she was stuck with her horrible lecherous annoyance of a father.

Against her will tears fell against her cheeks and sobs wracked through her chest. And for that she hated him worst of all.

Soul stood at the bottom of the stairs with the strange man that he could only guess was Maka's father, from the reaction she'd given him it was clear that it wasn't a welcome thing. "Maka I..." The hushed whimper was pathetic, it was clear that the man had a woman waiting for him. The smear of lipstick at the corners of his mouth were more than enough evidence for Soul. He may not know much about such things but Liz had told him a bit of what he needed to know. A quick rundown of Spirit Albarn, thus far seemed to be spot on.

Scrutinizing this older human he wasn't sure what he should think. It took a moment for the red head to realize that Soul was there. Immediately his brows shot up and he made an effort to straighten his shirt and look imposing. It might have worked on a regular boy, however Soul had seen far worse than him to be any bit intimidated. "Who are you?"

"Soul. Soul Evans. I'm the foreign exchange student that was sent to stay with you for the school year." It was a story that they had versed him on but he truly didn't know what it fully meant. Supposedly there was a way for him to gain instant knowledge about his surroundings and the new order of things, but he'd forgotten what it was. Until Ogre came back he was flying blind in this. So he held out the the forged document Kim had given him, it had everything he'd need supposedly.

The man snatched the paper up and skimmed over it, though his glance kept flickering from where he'd come from and to where Maka had vanished to. Soul didn't imagine he was actually reading it. "I don't remember signing this." Deep muttering made Soul shift his weight, he really didn't want to deal with this. Maka was supposed to be here. "No. There's no way I'll let a boy, especially a boy like you stay in my home! My sweet little darling won't be around you!" Curling his lip Soul wished that he didn't have to deal with this. Giving a heavy shrug he walked past the man to find Maka, this was her job.

However he did not anticipate the human to actually be paying attention, the man swiftly grabbed Soul by the collar of his borrowed shirt and slammed him up against a wall. "Listen here you little octopus..." Soul blinked blankly, what had this mortal just called him? "I won't let any boys near my Maka. I'm her father and it's my job to make sure that my precious baby stays away from scum like you." The rant went on but Soul stopped listening, his tongue was bleeding from where he'd bitten it trying not to lash out. Harming humans was a special legal issue for demons; for his 'protective' breed it was nearly forbidden.

Damn it. He didn't know if his powers would work as well in this form, he was already using up a lot of it to make sure he appeared human. "Spirit!" Both of them jerked their heads to where a very shapely woman stood, her yellow eyes and dark hair mesmerizing. "You were taking so..." Her eyes laid on Soul and narrowed.

"Oh my little cupcake! I didn't mean to keep you waiting." Smiling, the older male let Soul go. "My daughter just got home from her friends' house a bit early is all." The man was an idiot. Soul looked to the woman who smiled politely then dismissed him from her attention.

"Why don't you let her and her new friend have a moment, we still have some things to discuss." With a curl of her finger the woman had Spirit wrapped around her and they went away completely forgetting about the teen boy.

Soul's instincts prickled instantly. Whoever this woman was, there was something wrong with her. Rushing to where he knew Maka was he didn't bother knocking, instead barging in. He had known she was angry, he hadn't expected the tears though. "Get out!" She shrieked before a book came crashing into his skull. For a human she packed quite a wallop. He was starting to hate books. Dropping to the floor he covered his head with his hands and glared at her, it was hard to do when her eyes were all puffy and tears were trailing down her cheeks.

Sniffing she turned her back to him, "Just leave me alone." It was the first time she actually seemed vulnerable. Rubbing her eyes she peered at him and he felt his protective instincts pull at him, it wasn't a physical protection she needed at the moment.

"Not happening." Grousing he approached her slowly before placing his arm on her shoulder, he didn't really know how to comfort someone. Did you pat them? He didn't know what humans did. "I don't 'understand' fully, but I think I can relate. However as part of my bargain I am always with you." Squeezing her shoulder he felt the spark of her soul respond to him slightly, it was so disorienting that he forced himself to let go and walk back to lean against the wall.

Rubbing her eyes she shrugged and didn't look at him, it was clear that he'd stumbled onto a wide field of issues. And he thought he was messed up.

Squeezing a pillow she gulped deep breaths and continued to rub her eyes till they were puffy and red; he figured that it was best not to mention that though. Her quick reaction to chuck a book at his head was curbing his snarky tendencies quicker than he'd thought possible. "It's fine. Look I'll show you your room." Wiggling till she was at the edge of her bed, she turned back into the steel boned girl he knew the moment her feet hit the ground.

Following her quietly he was pleased to find that she was giving him the room down the hall, this would make it far easier to keep watch on her. The room was small but well furnished, the bed looked soft and there was a desk pushed up against the wall. "This is the guest room, we haven't used in a while but it's always clean." Leading him in she showed him a large black box with buttons and some kind of chord sticking out of it. "I think you'll like this, it's my old boombox. There are lots of channels of music so you'll probably be entertainer." Intrigued Soul watched her intently as she showed him the way to operate the strange object.

After she was satisfied that he knew how to work it, she left him to his new environment. It was more homey than he'd ever been in the underworld. The box played soothing sounds and he found he enjoyed quite a few different varieties of them. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay here.


End file.
